"Ramblin Jack" 2001

It was on a Thursday night
At the Jug o' Punch, that's right,
A folk club in the days of way back when.
I sat on the second row
Like I always did, you know,
Ready to sing choruses again.
There were songs about the farmer,
The ploughboy and the sea,
Songs I loved that really
Didn't mean a lot to me
'Cause there were no farms in my city
And no sails upon my lea
And no ploughboys in the factory back then.

When guest time came at last,
And the interval had passed,
A voice said "Will you all please settle down?"
'Cause it's my job to say:
Let's welcome here today
A legendary man of great renown.
He's rambled every highway.
He's rambled every road.
He's planted and he's gathered.
He's reaped and he has sowed.
He's a wanderer, a traveller,
A man of no abode,
And that's when Ramling Jack rode into town

And when he took that flatpick out
And hammered on the strings,
Suddenly the tunes were tight;
All the words had wings.
And I was hearing songs that told me
All mankind are kings,
The day that Rambling Jack rode into town.

And when that night was through,
I'd found a love so true,
A flatpick and six strings were all I'd need.
That Kerouac of songs,
That told of rights and wrongs,
Unknowingly had planted one more seed.
Now I've rambled down the road of time
And there's no going back,
But I have planted seeds of song
Somewhere along my track.
So here's to all the troubadours!
Here's to Ramblin' Jack!
Safe journeys, and safe havens,
And God speed!